One way to gauge the intensity of a physical fitness activity is to measure your heart rate while exercising. When your beats per minute (BPM) is within a target zone between your maximum and minimum rates, you burn fat more efficiently than when your heart rate is too high. Exercising too intensely, near your maximum BMP, causes your body to burn glucose instead of fat and provides less cardiovascular benefit. You can wear a heart rate monitor while you exercise to check that you are within the target zone.
Maximum and Minimum Heart Rate
Your maximum heart rate depends on your age: The younger you are, the higher your maximum BMP. To compute it, use the equation 220 - age. People with certain medical conditions or who take certain medications may have a lower maximum heart rate than what is given by the formula. In these cases, a doctor can determine their true max heart rate in an exercise lab.
Your minimum heart rate is your heart rate at rest. After you wake up in the morning, count your pulse for 15 seconds and multiply by 4 to calculate your resting heart rate.
Karvonen Formula for Target Heart Rate
Use the Karvonen formula to determine your target zone based on min and max heart rate. To compute the lower end of the zone, subtract your resting heart rate from your maximum heart rate and multiply the difference by 60 percent (0.6). Then add your resting heart rate to this number. To compute the upper end of the zone, subtract your resting heart rate from your maximum heart rate and multiply the difference by 0.8. Again, add your resting heart rate.
For instance, if a 25-year-old man's maximum and resting heart rates are 195 bpm and 65 BPM, his target zone is between 143 BPM and 169 BPM.
Reassessing Your Target Zone
As you age, your maximum heart rate decreases, and as you become more physically fit, your resting heart rate also decreases. This means that your target heart rate zone changes over time. If the same man, now 26 years old, has a maximum and resting rates of 194 bpm and 55 BPM, respectively, his target zone is between 138 BPM and 166 BPM. This is the range in which he will burn fat.
Maintaining the Target Heart Rate While Exercising
To ensure that you achieve a heart rate in the fat-burning range, you should wear a heart rate monitor and check it frequently while you exercise. When you first begin a fitness regimen to burn fate, aim for a heart rate at the lower end of your target zone. As you become stronger, you will be able to exercise for longer periods of time without tiring and be able to reach the higher end of your target zone.
Exercising to Lose Weight
While exercising anywhere within your target heart rate zone will help you burn fat, you need to sustain activity at the upper end of the zone to burn more calories overall, according to Ventrelle. When you work at an 80- to 85-percent intensity level for at least 30 minutes, three times a week, your body will burn more of its calorie reserves.
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